


Miscommunication

by orphan_account



Category: Ghost - Mystery Skulls (Music Video), Mystery Skulls (Band)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-14
Updated: 2014-11-15
Packaged: 2018-02-25 09:01:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,882
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2616086
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's hard to get back together when you're not talking to each other.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

They get back together. It was Vivi’s doing, if it were up to him they would have never gone back there.

 _Coward_. A voice says in his mind and it’s not the ghost. He knows that because the voice was there from the moment Vivi and Lewis got together, way before the cursed caves.  _Leaving the friend **you**  killed alone. You coward._

She went back when Arthur and Mystery were sleeping, her memories somehow returned after months of blank faces, and suddenly Lewis was back. Well not  _back_  back, he was still a creepy skeleton ghost but he was driving the van, talking with Vivi in the passenger and petting Mystery during red lights; altogether ignoring Arthur in the back. Which was fine. More hospitable than Arthur imagined in his nightmares since that fateful day.

There are unspoken rules to Lewis’s return, little intricate things that are written in the flames that make up Lewis’s hair, the pink flame that could become a raging inferno. No being alone with Vivi is made pretty clear the first time he went to ask her about Mystery’s whereabouts. Lewis had phased through the floor behind the girl and glared until he left. From that moment on he makes sure to approach only with Lewis there and even then the chorus of pink ghosts glare behind the oblivious girl, their yellow eyes boring down in his skull.

Vivi catches on to the rule pretty fast though and she berates and pouts at Lewis for it. “We’re all friends,” she says. Which makes betrayal all the more bitter, Arthur knows. Lewis eases up on it but what Vivi doesn’t know is that Arthur is use to seeing pink ghosts everywhere. He doesn’t tell her either.

There are other rules, rules Vivi doesn’t know about. Arthur is to go first: walking on the street, in haunted buildings, in rooms, Arthur is always subtly pushed forward. It’s understandable, being pushed from behind to their death would make one weary so he walks forward with a mixture of fear and shame.

He’s no longer allowed to drive the van. He goes to sit in the driver’s seat because before it was always Lewis drives in the mornings and late nights, Arthur drives in the afternoon and early evenings. Now that Lewis doesn’t have a sleep schedule the only one he allows behind the wheel is Vivi and himself. Arthur’s also stuck at the back of the van, no more shotgun; his attempts at conversation shunned.

There are rules that Arthur doesn’t quite understand and Lewis doesn’t explain. He learns through trial and error. No sleeping up late. No more trying to repair the van. No trying to avoid the pink ghosts that have become his watchers. Basically no doing anything suspicious which is bad because Lewis has become paranoid in his ghostly state.

It’s frustrating, it’s disappointing, it’s  _exactly what he deserves_ _._  Sometimes he wonders if it would be best just to leave the gang sometimes. It’s funny, in a kind of ironic way, his greatest fear, the thing the spirit fed on as he possessed him was his fear of being left alone. That was the reasoning the spirit provided as his arm numbly shoved Lewis off the cliff.  _Get rid of Lewis and you’ll never be alone_. Here they were a year later and he was going to end up alone anyway.

————-

One of the many unspoken rules was that Arthur was not to be threatening in any manner. An easy task since he’s, well,  _Arthur_ , but anytime he tried to initiate physical contact, raising his hand, going for a hug or even a handshake, Lewis’s hair would crackle, growing untamed, his usually peaceful ghosts growing fangs in warning. Mystery caught on with a pitying look. Vivi did not. Where once he clung to Lewis during their investigations, just going near his once-friend has his feet shaking, his heart racing, and not in a good way.

And he tries. He tries. It’s one of the unspoken rules. He can’t even rub his arms in that nervous gesture he always used to have before. Lewis thought it too threatening apparently. He puts his hands in his pockets, wears long sleeves in the heights of heat to hide his arms and the memories no doubt attached to them.  _Just one push and it’ll all be over_. He even gets some pretty cool orange work gloves and people stop staring at his metal arm, asking, “ _How did you get that?”_  so it’s a win-win.

——-

They’re a few months into being back together. Vivi’s noticed the tension and keeps trying to get them to talk but it falls flat. She’s getting frustrated, they can all tell. Eventually she gives them an ultimatum. “ _Make up or else_ _,”_  she says trying to trap them into a room together. It doesn’t really work seeing as how Lewis can phase through the walls which he does as soon as the door slams shut.

Arthur has already tried apologizing, to Lewis, to Vivi. Vivi accepted. Lewis just stared as Arthur pathetically cried and begged forgiveness.  _I’m sorry, I’m sorry. Please don’t be mad at me. I didn’t mean to._

Lewis’ only response was, “For Vivi, because she still likes you but don’t think this means you’re off the hook. Don’t think this means anything. You murdered me Arthur.” After which he left one of his henchmen behind to check on Arthur’s every move.

So this is how it’s gonna go huh?

Arthur lockpicks the door open and trudges to his hotel room.

(He remembers when him and Lewis use to share, staying up late and talking about whatever; he remembers impromptu pillow fights while Mystery growled at them to go to sleep - now Mystery is usually with Lewis, Vivi in her own room.)

His personal pink boo follows him as he packs. He doesn’t have much stuff, they all go very light in case, they need to run away last minute, and he’s done way packing too quickly.

He checks the bus schedule, next bus to the next town over comes in an hour. He sits on his bed and, as always in time of distress, orders room service. When he’s done the rooms a mess but then again it’s a hotel; someone will clean up. He looks at the watch, thirty minutes, then looks at the pink ghost, circular and floating. It has no legs and nothing to really discern it from its brethren so he can’t tell if the being is meant to be a person, some dead guy following Lewis around or something else. He doesn’t know if Lewis can hear him through the ghost, if his freaky abilities extend to possessing smaller ghosts or if the ghost has a mind of it’s own and reports what it thinks it’s suspicious.

It doesn’t matter.

“Tell Lewis I’m sorry alright?” He says but the ghost says nothing in return. Just staring. Maybe not so intelligent.

He gets up, his arm has been acting up recently and with Lewis staring him down all the time with that unspoken rule he hasn’t been able to take proper care of it. He gets out the oil, the toolbox with the dirty wrenches he never cleans, pulls back the long sleeve and removes his arm. He’s use to the sting of it but it still hurts and the stump has to be numbed beforehand or else it’ll really hurt - nerve endings and all. He hasn’t been able to restock on numbing fluids so it’s no surprise when he drops the arm in his pain and it rolls under his bed.

He has his head under the bed and his one arm reached out in searching when he hears Vivi and Lewis’s echo-y voice.

“You need to make up.” Vivi says and the door opens, her voice becoming clearer.

“Quite right.” Mystery says. “It’s honestly getting annoying.” Mystery must be really annoyed if he’s using his energy to communicate instead of playing charades.

Arthur tries to get out and he does but not without bumping his head on the bed frame, his metal arm still stuck under the bed. He rubs his hand and stands a little wobbly. The room’s a mess, red jelly, peanut butter and ketchup everywhere from where he ate most likely the biggest PB&J ever created and bread crumbs littering the floor as if he was an old man at lakeside. What could he say? He was a messy eater when stressed.

“What happened here-?” Lewis pauses and for some reason he suddenly projects himself as human. He’s wearing the ascot again and the sweater vest, his skin a little paler than it was in life. He doesn’t breathe as he should, ruining the illusion but besides that it was almost as if Lewis was alive again. If only he'd smile. He’s looking towards Arthur with a faint expression of shock and despair.

Arthur reviews the rules in his head. He was sure if he was doing something wrong the little pink ghost would’ve alerted Lewis much sooner. Was he not allowed to be messy anymore? Fuck.

He looks at Lewis and shrugs sheepishly, his left shirt sleeve flapping with the motion. He hopes Lewis wouldn’t be too mad but at the same time Vivi and Mystery are in the room so he won’t do anything too insane. He hopes. He still has nightmares about blue hearts and pink flames from time to time.

Lewis, while in his human form, still floats forward, just a few inches off the ground. Arthur backs up a little but when he hits the edge of the bed he just lets whatever happen happens. Vivi and Mystery do nothing to stop what’s going on, whatever that is.

“What happened to your arm Arthur?” For some reason Lewis’s voice is more echo-y than usual, his holo projection flickers and it’s scary but it is also Lewis so Arthur swallows down the scream crawling up his throat. He looks behind Arthur to see Vivi and Mystery just as bewildered as him.

“I lost it.” Arthur admits, his voice shaky.

Lewis, it’s almost like a gasp except it’s not a physical gasp. It’s in the way his form flickers and the room gets chillier, the lights going off for  _1, 2, 3,_ seconds before coming back on. It’s in the way that Lewis’s orange heart beats faster, so fast that Arthur feels the vibrations in his own chest.

Lewis looks at the toolbox, at the mess of oil and the mess of condiments and other bits on his sheets and then _turns to glare at his own henchman?_

“Why didn’t you tell me?” He whirls at his own kin in its corner of the room. The little spirit crunching in on itself. “Why didn’t-?” Lewis sobs, an echo-y static and flickers back to skeletal. His back is turned to them and Arthur slowly slides behind Vivi for protection.

“I didn’t mean-” Lewis says, he turns. “I’m so sorry Arthur.” And that’s when they all spot Lewis’s heart turning orange to a pale blue.

They look at each other. First Vivi to Mystery then both of them to glare at Arthur. He puts his hand up in a gesture of, ‘I don’t know’. Was it some act for Vivi, a little, ‘ _I’m sorry_ ’ so she’d stop harassing them to forgive each other? He was laying it on a little too thick though. Was he honestly sad about something? Arthur curses to himself and hides further behind the shorter girl.

Vivi looks around the room, for she’s a quick study, and asks, “Was that boo always watching you?”

There’s things he could do, he could be a great mechanic and singer, great bait, but he could not lie directly to Vivi.

“Yeah.”

Lewis says something to the boo and it disappears, it’s heart a sad blue and eyes downcast and then Lewis floats over his eyes oh so sad and his heart beating at a slow pace, like a beat to a funeral song.

“Arthur.” The ghost says, staring at the ketchup stained empty sleeve.

“Yeah?”

“Oh… _Arthur_!” Lewis says and he looks like he might burst into tears. By this point both Mystery and Vivi have deserted him for the sidelines, glancing between the two.

“I didn’t mean to. I just- I-" Lewis pauses and his heart turns to, not a brighter shade of blue but a deeper, darker shade.

“…Okay?”

“Your arm.” Lewis points out and he actually sniffs. His form flickers, this time staying human. His eyes are red rimmed, his expression so conflicted but mostly sorrowful.

“I lost it under the bed.” Arthur says plainly and a little freaked out, points shakily with his other arm. Mystery barks and goes under, fetching it and Lewis looks away almost as if he’d throw up. His breath, and he shouldn't have breath, shudders, his heart beating a little faster and his eyes wide. If he didn’t know better he’d diagnose Lewis as sick.

“What’s this all about Lewis?” Vivi asks as Arthur hurriedly thanks Mystery and reattaches his arm. He knew what this was about, he broke a rule of some kind. He covers his sleeve and puts back his glove, stuffing his hands in his pocket. There. That's better right? He looks to Lewis in silent askance.

“What do you mean-?” Lewis asks hysterically. “Arthur is-” Lewis looks back at him and he takes his left arm from the pocket, wiggles his fingers demonstratively before putting it back in.

If anything Lewis looks even more sick and pale.

“I-?Wha-” Lewis stutters.

Again, Vivi is the one to connect the dots.

“…You- You didn’t know about Arthur’s arm?”

The silence is thick. Arthur laughs because the mere suggestion- he was wearing a short sleeve tee when they visited Lewis’s crazy mansion but then Lewis shakes his head in bewilderment and Mystery whimpers, bringing his paw to his face and shaking his head and-

“ _What?_ ” Arthur asks. Sure they never really talked about his new, shiny arm but he thought…

“What’s wrong with Arthur’s arm?” The pink specter asks, his pale blue heart beating fast. “He didn’t cut it off?”

Vivi groans something resembling, “ _Men_.” She puts her hand on her hips which means she was either getting frustrated or feeling smug and says, “If you two would just talk like normal human beings. Didn’t you tell him about the cave Arthur? The possession?”

Which, no, now that he thought about it, he doesn’t think they’ve ever really talked about that day. They haven't really talked much since Lewis' return. He’d always assume…

“I thought you told him.” Arthur says meekly.

Vivi groans again and Mystery whimpers while Lewis looks between the three.

“What’s going on?”

————————-

They all settle down on the hotel bed. Vivi contemplates just letting the two of them talk it out by themselves but changes her mind at the possibility of them messing it up. Arthur ends up missing his bus ride. He stares subtly at his packed suitcase on the floor, the one that Mystery ends up sitting on as if to say, “No getting out of this one.” Vivi does most of the talking, Mystery providing his input when it comes to the ‘biting off Arthur’s arm’ bit. When Vivi gestures Arthur removes his glove.

Lewis gasps, “Why didn’t you tell me?” He asks as Arthur rolls up his sleeves, to the point where metal meets flesh.

Arthur shrugs, “I was wearing a tee back at the mansion. Thought you already noticed.”

Lewis, sheepishly says, “I was kind of preoccupied.”

“So was I.” With running away.

“So you were possessed.” Lewis says as if he’s processing the data. His heart, gradually, returns to its orange hue.

They all look at him, awaiting a reaction. Arthur goes to roll his sleeve down but Vivi smacks his hand away, glaring at him. Then finally Lewis laughs, it’s not menacing but still echo-y. Lewis’s form flicks back to skeletal, to _normal_ , and even though they don’t have facial expression to really go by his strong orange heart makes it clear it's a good laugh.

“I’m relieved. I thought you had actually wanted me dead there.”

Arthur scrabbles, spluttering, “Of course not!”

Lewis’s eyes are so pink and so sincere, more than making up for a lack of smile. “I know that now.”

Vivi, between them, smiles and says, “Finally.” Mystery finally gets off his suitcase to nod and stretch.

Lewis stands and holds his arms in welcome. Arthur is confused for a few seconds, months of self-imposed rules telling him to duck his head and put his hands in his pockets, roll his sleeves down. Be as non-threatening as possible.

Instead he hugs Lewis like they use to and let a small smile creep on his face.

They were finally back together again.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lewis' POV

She comes back. Vivi comes back and where there was blank recognition the first time she visited, her eyes are alight, she hugs him and cries, " _Lewis."_ He holds her and soothes her and swears on his ghost-hood that he'd do anything for her. She wants him to come back. She wants them to be together again.

He says yes without a second thought. Apparently 'being together' includes Arthur.

He goes back because he misses her so desperately. He goes back but he's not the same. He doesn't think he'll ever be the same Lewis Vivi remembers so fondly but he tries. He gets better at projecting himself as human, Mystery is a good tutor in things supernatural and he learns patiently how to blink at the right intervals, how to expand his chest in a mimicry of breathing, step instead of float. He can't hold it up for long but then again not most people are expecting a guy in his early twenties to be a ghost.

He doesn't talk to Arthur. He doesn't accept Arthur's weak excuses of apology. He can see the guilt, the fear in his once-friend's eyes and a vicious part of him is glad, " _You murdered me Arthur."_ He wants to say and does say on the one time they talked to each other.  _Why?_  Is what he does not ask partially because he doesn't want to hear it and partially because he knows.

It's Vivi. The bright blue girl who was in love with the paranormal. It was the only logical explanation. Ever since they got together Arthur was off, more downtrodden. He thought it was something the other would get over. Apparently not. Apparently it was something that warranted pushing your best friend off a cliff.

Lewis stares at his hands, he's in his room and so he drops the facade, staring at his skeletal hands. Vivi swears that Arthur wouldn't hurt a fly. A few years ago, Lewis would've agreed. Vivi also insists that walking into haunted mansions is fun. If she wasn't going to take this seriously than he was.

So Lewis sends a boo to watch Arthur's every move; interrupts any of his interactions with Vivi. He ponders if it's really necessary, if he's going too far and then he remembers the cave, a push to his back. He remembers dying, waking up alone in a coffin.

He remembers the feeling of betrayal like cold unforgiving metal against his back.

Vivi catches on, she always was going to eventually. She retrieves him from his room shared with Mystery after he evaded being locked in a room with Arthur.

"Did you talk to him?" She asks. He looks shiftily around the little hotel room for he could never lie directly to Vivi, living or dead, and groans when she grabs his hand, dragging him to Arthur's room. Mystery follows them and snickers slightly. He glares and straightens his back. Might as well get this over with, a little false apology and then they could go back to glaring at each other.

"You need to make up." She says, opening the room to the door, shoving him inside first.

"Quite right." Mystery says, the betrayer. "It's honestly getting annoying."

There's a bump, a creak of an cheap hotel bed. Arthur stands, rubbing his head. The room is a mess, there's a toolbox on the bed, wrenches and oil, there's a knife laid out-

"What happened he-" He pauses. Lewis pauses and stares at the red coating the room.

Was that blood?

He looks at the room and then towards Arthur. Arthur's whose left sleeve is empty and there's blood- there's dried blood on his-

_He remembers waking up. He remembers being alone. He remembers the need for revenge._

" _I'll kill Arthur for this."_ He remembers thinking, back when he had hours upon days upon months of time to think to himself. He remembers thinking he could kill Arthur in cold blood for his deception. He also remembers the doubt. Could he really kill Arthur? Would he happy once Arthur was dead?

Looking at him now, Lewis could honestly he couldn't - _wouldn't_ have been happy.

Arthur shrugs and his eyes look so lost, so empty. His shirt sleeve flaps and Lewis wants to laugh and he wants to cry but he doesn't really have the physical capabilities for either so what comes out is some kind of cackle, like a broken intercom.

He floats forward, traps Arthur who bumps into the bed and looks  _so scared_ , " _I didn't mean this. I didn't mean to scare you this bad_." Lewis wants to say but doesn't, too choked up on emotions to say anything.

"What happened to your arm Arthur?" Lewis asks, feeling as if he was far away. Far away back to the mansion where the outside world didn't exist. He reaches out to thumb the empty sleeve, stained in  _blood_ but Arthur's scared expression stops him. This, this was probably the arm that pushed him, he realizes belatedly. He could just imagine it, Arthur driven by guilt, chopping off his arm with whatever he could find in the toolbox. He's surprised it isn't still bleeding. Should they call an ambulance? He's been dead for so long that physical pain is foreign, something of the past but he knows Arthur should be in pain, should be lightheaded and close to fainting.

Oh but he's not really in control, the lights flicker and in his hindbrain he knows it's him, his spiritual energy going on the fritz. He probably wouldn't be able to pick up the phone in this uncontrollable state.

"I lost it." Arthur says guilty, shakily. He says it as if he's lost a toy. Lewis feels something like horror in his heart. He wonders how long this has been going on. Arthur has always been wearing long sleeve tees and he was glad, glad that he wouldn't have to see that traitorous murder weapon. How did they not see this?

Lewis looks across the room. There's less blood than he expected but there's the kitchen knife, the blood, the toolbox. There's empty syringes, numbing fluid maybe, they keep some at the back of the van just in case. No arm though. Did he dispose of it? He looks around the room and spots his own henchman, a single pink boo whose heart beats fast.

He feels anger.

"Why didn't you tell me? Why didn't-?" He sobs. It sounds foreign even to his non existent ears and the boo compacts, making itself small. Its  _what it deserves_ for not telling him about the horrors his friend inflicts on himself. It was meant to keep watch. It looks exactly like Arthur ever since Lewis came back, small and hunching and _scared_ because of  _him_. The resemblance feels like a blow to the chest. The boos heart turns blue but he does not notice.

He needs to apologize. He never meant to become a monster.

"I didn't mean-" Lewis says, he turns. "I'm so sorry Arthur." He looks to Arthur whose hidden behind Vivi for protection.  _Vivi_ , he forgot Mystery and her was there. How would she take this?

There's something there, the three of them all glance at each other and Vivi asks, "Was that boo always watching you?"

"Yeah." Arthur admits and oh, where did they go wrong? What happened to the boys who were best friends since freshman year. When did they become so twisted?

He looks back at the boo, commands him to go. It flees gleefully and that's when Lewis notices the blue heart, his own beating slowly. He knows his own status as dead but these last few months, these last few months he's felt alive. A little broken inside but alive. Now though, he feels death's cold claws closing around his heart again.

He has to- He has to make up for this somehow.

"Arthur." He says.

"Yeah?" Arthur says and he sounds so confused. As if Lewis was the one going insane.

"I didn't mean to. I just- I-" How was he going to apologize for driving his once-friend insane with guilt. How was he going to accept an apology revolving around his death? How were they ever going to be the same again?

"...Okay?" Arthur says and he sounds so  _normal_ , so nonchalant considering the situations. Lewis took a psychology class once; he's read about people blocking their memories of traumatic events. He wonders if that was what Vivi had, before, if seeing Lewis's dead body impaled by a stalagmite made her block it and seeing Lewis as a ghost helped her adjust or something.

"Your arm." Lewis points, in case the blonde has forgotten or something  _else_.

"I lost it under the bed." Arthur says plainly and points shakily with his one arm. Mystery barks, goes under the bed and wiggles back out-

He can't watch. He gags slightly on nothing, at the thought of seeing Arthur's shorn arm, at the thought of cuts on the arm, made before today.

"What's this all about Lewis?" Vivi asks and he's almost forgotten about her. She doesn't look sad or mad or desperate. Just plain Vivi with her eyebrows crooked, her purple glasses low on her nose. He wonders if they didn't all become corrupt. He wonders if Arthur and Vivi twisted each other further while he was gone.

"What do you mean-?" He asks hysterically. "Arthur is-" He looks back at Arthur just in time to see him wiggle his left fingers, the fingers that weren't there a second ago, before putting them in his pocket.

"I-? Wha-" Lewis stutters because  _what?_

"…You- You didn't know about Arthur's arm?" Vivi asks and Lewis can't respond because he's looking at the full sleeve of Arthur's left arm and the work gloves are back on and  _what_?

There is a silence and then Arthur laughs loudly if not uncomfortably. Mystery groans but his eyes are all on Arthur who pauses after a while, looking at him in shock.

" _What_?" Arthur asks which, yeah, that's a word.

"What's wrong with Arthur arms?" Lewis asks because that's the most important. "He didn't cut it off?"

Vivi groans something, Lewis doesn't hear. "If you two would just talk like normal human beings. Didn't you tell him about the cave Arthur? The  _possession_?"

"I thought you told him." Arthur says and he looks sheepish. 

Vivi groans again and Mystery whimpers while Lewis looks between the three.

"What's going on?"

======

Arthur tries to clear the bed as best as he can, but can't really remove the  _ketchup or jelly_ efficiently. It's fine, they're use to his messy eating habits by now. Vivi sits between them and explains, in more descriptive details, about the cave.

What it turns down to is that Mystery, while not a regular dog Lewis knew, was actually some kind of fox demon/god thing. He's purposely vague about his state of being, Lewis knows, but he doesn't further investigate. This is about the caves.

This is how it happened: Mystery sensed something wrong and instead of following Vivi like planned, followed them to the cliff, just in time to see Lewis get pushed. Except Arthur was possessed. To stop the possession, Mystery bit Arthur's arm off. Plain, simple,  _context changing_. _  
_

Lewis watches as Arthur finally gets rid of the orange work gloves, rolling up his sleeve to where metal meets flesh. He wants to ask how it works, as Arthur obviously has full control of it. He wants to ask if it hurt. He wants to apologize because Arthur was _possessed_. He  _didn't_ want to kill Lewis.

Instead he laughs, full and relieved. His friend didn't want to murder him and steal his girlfriend. He feels foolish for not noticing the arm earlier, back in the mansion, so this could've been avoided. So he could've asked about it but he knows it's not solely his fault or solely Arthur's. They both didn't communicate but it was fine now.

Everything was fine now, or more close to fine.

He stands and holds out his arms. He sees the doubt clouding Arthur's face, he sees his eyes widening, his heel lifted as if to take a step back but then Arthur goes for it. They hug and though he can't smile his heart is warm and beats fast.

They were going to get through this together.

 


End file.
